


Misery Loves Company

by prettypurpleflower



Category: Glee
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-03-06 17:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3142196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettypurpleflower/pseuds/prettypurpleflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt and Sebastian keep getting ill and it messes everything up. Especially their feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misery Loves Company

**1.**

It started with a sneeze. Kurt shook his head and complained brusquely about the dust coating his desk. One sneeze turned into a row of two, three, four sneezes. And when he felt the first scratch in his throat, Kurt couldn’t deny anymore that he was well on his way to being ill.

As his cold got worse, his friends’ pity grew. And with it his resentment for them and the world in general. Kurt had never been a friendly ill person.

However, not for one second did Kurt even consider cancelling his appointment on Thursday afternoon. Although it was hardly a real appointment, it’s the way Kurt preferred to call it when someone asked if he had some free time and he had to explain why he absolutely didn’t.

Kurt found the entrance door unlocked for him and sighed with relief. There was a soft but steady pounding in his head that made him unwilling to deal with any unnecessary polite social interactions. As he took the first step up the stairs, a wave of dizziness hit him. He closed his eyes, praying for the room to stop spinning around him.

‘Maybe I should have gone home,’ he whispered, his voice even more hoarse than two hours ago.

Nonetheless, he didn’t turn around. Instead Kurt went on upstairs. There weren’t a lot of reasons why he came today. The initial reason was completely out of question, that was crystal clear.

Mainly Kurt had come to complain. Complaining wasn’t something that he usually did, as he believed it was a waste of time anyway. Today he needed to let his displeasure about being ill out, however, and there was no other person better suited to complain at than Sebastian Smythe. Simply because Kurt hoped Sebastian’s annoyance might make him feel better.

But the sight that greeted him was not what Kurt had expected. Sebastian was lying on his bed, curled up as small as someone that tall could make themselves and there was a faint sniffing audible.

'You look like you're dying,' Kurt croaked, followed by a cough. Sebastian turned to face him with a pain filled groan.

'You sound like you're dying.' Kurt crossed the distance to the bed and let himself fall down next to Sebastian.

'I came here to complain, but now you're ill, too.'

'What, that keeps you from complaining? Should’ve tried that before.'

'I… don't know. Thinking is hard right now.'

'Know what you mean.'

They lay still for a while. Then Sebastian looked at Kurt again with his usual smirk. Unsurprisingly it didn’t come across very convincing.

'So… no sex today?' If moving didn’t feel so impossible, Kurt would have smacked Sebastian.

'Definitely no sex.'

'What if it makes us feel better?'

'Oh yeah, because runny noses and coughing are such a turn on.'

'True.'

'Wanna know a secret?'

Kurt nodded, not daring to keep talking in hopes of calming the itch in his throat.

'I don't think it would have worked anyway.' Opening one of his eyes, Kurt saw Sebastian grinning at him. It was a weird look on him at the moment, the whole frat boy imagine destroyed by glowing cheeks and a runny nose.

Kurt sneezed again. Without looking up Sebastian reached for his nightstand and put a box of tissues between them. Kurt grimaced.

‘I know why you keep them there.’  
‘We’ve seen each other naked, don’t act so uptight now.’

‘Asshole.’

‘Yeah, got one. But rimming is out, too, I guess.’

‘You’re disgusting, why do I even spend time with you?’

‘Because I’m a sex god.’

‘I’m sure I could find someone who’s just as good at sex but more tolerable.’

‘Then it’s got to be because you _like_ me.’

Not willing to answer, Kurt buried his face in the pillow. He knew that was probably more telling than anything else, but his mind felt so fuzzy, it seemed difficult to come up with a cutting remark. Suddenly he felt his hand being grabbed. Warily Kurt looked up again. Sebastian hadn’t moved from the other half of the bed, but their hands lay now between them with the fingers interlaced. smirk

‘If you think about it, it’s great that we’re ill at the same time. That means we can get back to fucking sooner,’ Sebastian said, his grin as suggestive as possible right now. Despite the whole bravado, Kurt could feel his hand being squeezed in sympathy. They were in this together.

 

**2.**

‘What are you doing?’  
‘I’m cuddling you,’ Kurt simply stated, making Sebastian’s perplexed expression look even more ridiculous.

‘I can see that.’

‘Then why are you asking?’

‘We never cuddle.’

‘Well, we do now. I feel like I got overrun by a bus. I want to complain and I want to cuddle.’

‘Okay.’   
‘Good.’ Kurt couldn’t really believe that Sebastian wasn’t fighting him on this, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to ask about it. He turned his head almost unnoticeably to gauge Sebastian’s reaction but there was only a tiny peaceful smile on his face.

Content Kurt snuggled closer, hiding his smile in Sebastian’s chest. Who would have thought that Sebastian had a soft side? All of a sudden Kurt noticed something odd. He could faintly hear a whistling sound every time Sebastian took a breath.

‘You should get that checked out by a doctor.’

‘It’s just a freaking cold, Hummel. That’s what cold symptoms look like.’

‘So the imp rehearsing a whistle concert in your chest doesn’t concern you at all?’

‘Imp? You’re so fucking weird.’

‘You’re weird. You call me Hummel even after everything we’ve done together.’

‘If I think you’re being dumb I’ll call you Hummel.’

‘You called me Hummel during sex last week.’

‘You didn’t want me to blow you, that _was_ dumb.’ Kurt rolled his eyes and decided not to comment. Every muscle in his body hurt like hell and he was pretty sure that Sebastian didn’t feel the least bit better, although he tried to play it all off.

For a while they kept drifting in and out of sleep, neither knowing how much time had truly passed. A funny thought crossed Kurt’s mind. Maybe it wasn’t that funny, but everything in his mind felt fluffy as cotton wool right now, so he decided to share it anyway.

'It's strange how we're ill at the same time _again_.’

'It's not strange, we have sex all the time. We probably infected each other.'

'I’ve read that flu is not contagious through sex, smartass.'

'Well, Dr. Hummel, you can't get physically closer than sex. It also involved you having your tongue in my mouth. Does that count as contagious enough or do I need to cough at you?’

‘I can’t believe I like you. You’re such a know-it-all.’

‘You started it, who’s the know-it-all here?’

‘That’s the part you want to talk about?’

‘Well, what can I say? Of course you like me, I’m a lovable person,’ Sebastian said smirking.

Kurt snorted, which promptly caused him to cough again.

‘Lovable my ass.’

‘Yeah, that’s lovable, too.’

 

**3.**

'This is the third time this winter that you're ill, Kurt. It's also the third time Sebastian Smythe is ill. At the same time.' Kurt chuckled weakly.

'Funny coincidence.' Rachel shook her head vehemently.

'That goes beyond coincidence. What are you doing with him, Kurt?'

'We… hang out sometimes.'

'You two hang out? Do you think I'm stupid? What would you even talk about?'

For a second Kurt wanted to lie, but something about Rachel’s intense stare made something entirely different than he had planned slip out of his mouth.

'Fashion.' Kurt groaned silently, his answer couldn't have been worse. Rachel turned her head, taking a look at Sebastian who was sitting across the room with a red nose and one of the ugliest scarves she had ever seen wrapped tightly around his neck. To make matters worse, the color of the scarf clashed horribly with his sweater. She looked back at Kurt, her eyes opened wide in disbelief. Then Rachel started laughing almost hysterically.

‘You turn into such a bad liar when you’re ill.’ She paused.

'You are dating him, aren’t you?' Blushing a scarlet red, Kurt nodded. No help in denying it, Kurt decided. Up to his usual wit he might have been able to get out of it, but he was nowhere near close enough to thinking that fast at the moment. Rachel frowned.

‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Kurt knew that expression. It meant she was just about to release one of her tirades, somehow making herself out to be an expert on a topic she knew nothing about as well as claiming that she was just looking out for his best interests. Somehow Kurt wasn’t so certain that complete _annoyance_ at his best friend was in his best interests, though.

‘Well, it hasn’t started to look like a bad idea even after seven months, so I’ll count it as a good idea.’ Rachel’s face had lost all color and her mouth was opened ridiculously wide in surprise. It wasn’t true, of course. They hadn’t been dating for seven months. They _had_ started their friends with benefits agreement seven months ago, even if neither of them would have actually called the other a friend exactly at that time. _We decided to give this a try and call it dating five weeks ago_ didn’t seem as impressive to Kurt.

However, he doubted that Rachel would appreciate an explanation of the precise details right now anyway. Grabbing his cup as long as Rachel was still paralyzed by shock (Kurt wasn’t exactly certain her extensive amount of shock was actually real, but for once her tendency to be dramatic played right into his cards), he quickly made his away to Sebastian, planted a kiss on his cheek and sat down into the chair next to him.

'What are you doing?' Sebastian hissed, throwing a panicked glance at Rachel.

'She _knows._ And that means by tomorrow everyone will know.’

‘Oh… okay.’

‘That’s it? Just okay?’ Sebastian nodded.

‘Yeah. What did you expect? A scene?’

‘In my imagination you broke up with me because you couldn’t take my betrayal of telling someone about us and the pressure of having to prove yourself to my friends. It involved a lot of screaming, some coffee thrown around and the slamming of at least two doors.’

‘Kurt, you need new friends. Your current ones are a terrible, overdramatic influence on you.’

‘How do you know that I haven’t always been overdramatic myself?’

‘You never are when you are with me. I’d dare say I know you a bit.’

‘You mean you _love_ me,’ Kurt giggled, drawing the word out just to tease Sebastian.

Taking in Kurt’s appearance – his red nose, glassy eyes and heaving chest – Sebastian’s stomach did a somersault that he knew wasn’t caused by his cold. He shrugged.

‘A bit.’

 

**4.**

‘At least puking isn’t contagious,’ Kurt shrugged, holding a glass of water out to Sebastian who only spared him a glare.

‘You know, it was probably the pizza yesterday. I told you something seemed off with it.’

‘Not the pizza. Already felt weird before that,’ Sebastian rasped and finally took a sip of water. He looked up at his smirking boyfriend who was clearly enjoying the opportunity to pick at Sebastian’s rather debatable eating habits, and his stomach turned. Maybe it wasn’t love, maybe spending so much time with Kurt had given him an ulcer, Sebastian thought, poking his tongue out at Kurt. Who cared if it was childish. It didn’t seem to throw Kurt off at all, though. He simply held out a hand to help Sebastian up and drew him right into a tight hug. Knees still wobbly, Sebastian suspected it was really only Kurt holding him up on his feet.

‘You’re going to lie down for a bit, I’ll make some chamomile tea and when you’re feeling up to it later, I’ll make some banana porridge.’

‘How did you know I like banana porridge when my stomach hurts?’ Kurt’s grin was filled with mirth.

‘When we told your family that we’re moving in together, your grandma gave me this whole list with things I need to know about you to take care of you. Because obviously you can’t do that on your own.’ Sebastian gasped.

‘My own grandma betrayed me? My heart, it aches. Is there nobody trustworthy left?’

‘You’re hanging out too much with my friends, their influence is turning you overdramatic.’

‘How can you be sure it’s not your influence?’

‘The influence of my love can only ever be good. It taught you how to select the right scarf for every outfit.’ Kurt laughed at his own ridiculousness but sobered quickly.

‘Let’s get you to the couch. That tea isn’t going to make itself and I’d hate to see you suffering more than necessary.’

Sebastian’s stomach made that strange little somersault again and he smiled. Yeah, no ulcer. Definitely love.

 

**5.**

‘It’s all your fault, you _were_ contagious.’

‘It always is. Just like it’s your fault when I’m ill.’ Sebastian leaned his head against the doorframe. He still hoped that was a vicious circle one of their immune systems would break one day, but at least they had managed not to get ill at the same time for once. Caring was a lot easier when you didn’t need any help yourself.

‘Come on, baby, let me in.’

'You don't want to look at me right now, Bastian.'

'I don't want to smell you right now and I don't want to hear you retch. Because chances are that I'll join you in puking your guts out. But don't think for one second I care how you look, how being ill makes you look. I've seen you ill before, remember?'

'Not the throwing up kind of ill.'

'I don't _care_ , Kurt. You looked after me, too. Don’t be silly now. In sickness and in health and all that crap, right?’ 

The lock clicked and the door swung open, revealing Kurt as pale as the porcelain wall next to him. And sporting an affronted expression.

'Sebastian Smythe, that has better not been your idea of a proposal.'

'No! I love you, but… Oh my god, no!'

'Are you saying you don't want to marry me?' Kurt smirked weakly, knowing how it drove Sebastian up the wall when no matter what he said, it was always the wrong thing. This time, however, he only rolled his eyes affectionately.

'I’m saying that I’m not going anywhere near the word marriage for the next five years. At least. And I’m saying that you deserve the proposal of your dreams, which probably doesn’t involve you vomiting out your answer.’ Under any other circumstances this joke would have gotten Sebastian an unimpressed raised eyebrow and a sassy comeback, but this time Kurt let it go unchallenged.

‘But… you do want that one day? With me?’ The second the words left his mouth, Kurt started dry heaving again. Sebastian took a washcloth out of the shelf, patiently wet it in the sink and then kneeled down and gently pressed it on the back of Kurt’s neck. He was rewarded by a relieved sigh. Calmed down a bit, Kurt turned around and gave Sebastian a grateful smile. Finally Sebastian nodded.

'Misery does love company.'


End file.
